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Letter: Honor Paris agreement to protect environment

To the editor
| on March 20, 2017

Good news, moderate voices within the Trump administration believe we must honor the Paris agreement on climate change ("Trump urged to stick to Paris agreement," March 3). The split the article describes, between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the president's daughter Ivanka Trump on one side and Stephen Bannon, Trump's senior adviser, on the other, provides an opportunity for the opinions of American voters to tip the scales toward a policy that would lessen the risks of a volatile climate future for our children and grandchildren.

Surveys carried out by Yale University after last November's election found that 69 percent of registered voters support our participation in the Paris agreement and 66 percent support reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, regardless of what other countries do. Moreover, 47 percent of Trump voters agree.

This debate arises at a moment when a group of highly respected Republican Party elders released a proposal for a business-friendly, free-market solution to achieve the emissions reduction we set for ourselves in Paris. Their plan (at https://www.clcouncil.org/) would cut U.S. greenhouse gas releases by charging fossil fuel companies a reasonable price for the risks their products impose on society.

All revenues would be returned to American households, offsetting higher fuel costs for individuals and prompting entrepreneurs to develop ever better technologies for cleaning up our energy production.

If Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil CEO, can support the Paris agreement, we the majority must add our voices to his and tell our elected officials to stand by our country's commitment.